Women Bouncing in oversplits

[All Chalked Up]

At practice my coach had us do oversplits with two stacks of two folding mats (1 foot high? Maybe 1 1/2 feet high?). She instructed us to "bounce as hard and as fast as you can" while in the oversplit.

This is left, right and middle splits with both legs on the mat stacks. Is this safe? I seem to recall a few different coaches telling me NEVER to do this.

 

[Gymnastics123456]

I don't think it is safe to bounce as hard and fast as you can in over splits. You could pull a muscle. Maybe bouncing very very very slowly and gentle would be okay but I don't think as fast and hard as you can is okay.

 

[All Chalked Up]

That's what I was thinking. I feel as if it would be very easy to pull/tear the groin muscles or the muscles in the back of the leg. Mine are VERY sore!

 

[Gymnastics123456]

Yeah I think you should say something to your coach. You don't want to get hurt doing oversplits.

 

[Aero]

Forcefully bouncing or exceeding your current flexibility limits is called ballistic stretching and is useless. It actually serves to tighten up the muscles more and can lead to injury, too. Not a good thing from my understanding. Maybe find a way to express this to your coach.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

YIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKES!

 

[CAGymmie]

YIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKES!

That's what I was thinking!

 

[LinnieC]

ouch....

 

[Muddlethru]

I've always taught my students to "breathe" into a stretch and never bounce. Bouncing as a poster above indicated while you stretch is known as ballistic stretching. This form of stretching can stretch your muscles too far and too fast resulting in significant strain on your muscles. This is not safe in my opinion nd should be avoided.

I believe holding a stretch for 30 seconds and then resting and repeating this 3-4 times is better than holding a stretch for 5 min. I guess I would use the word repeating as opposed to bouncing. I prefer my stretches and exercises done in a controlled manner.

 

[MissLisa]

Ballistic stretching (bouncing) is now very outdated and seen to cause more damage than good causing a loss in flexibility rather than a gain. This is due to the over stretching and tearing of muscle fibers over and over producing bits of scar tissue in the muscle. This is hard and cannot be stretched once it's formed.

As stated above. It's much better to stretch to the point of discomfort for 30-60 seconds have a rest or do the other leg and repeat. Holding a stretch for a long time doesn't see any greater improvement in flexibility than holding for 60 secs.

We used to use ballistic stretching techniques back when I was a kid and other torturous ones! How times have changed. I never ever encourage ballistic stretching even though kids seem to want to do it!